Proposed new electoral map an 'attack' on the Anglo vote, lobby group says

A proposal to eliminate a provincial riding with a largeanglophone population could damage the community's political voice,according to a prominent Anglo lobby group.

Geoffrey Chambers, vice-presidentof the Quebec Community Groups Network, says he was "surprised and shocked" at proposed revisions to the electoral map announced last week by theprovince's chief electoral officer.

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On the new map, WestmountSaint-Louis, a riding where 37 per cent of residents claim English as their mother tongue, would be absorbed into two neighbouring ridings.

The western part of Westmount would join the riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grce, whileeastern Westmount would join the newly created downtown riding of Ville-Marie.

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The result, said Chambers, would be one less seat in the National Assembly representing the anglophoneinterests. He called the change "anattack" on Anglos.

"They've chopped the riding up where some parts of it are going east,some parts are going toSaint-Henri, some parts are going to NDG," Chambers told CBC Montreal's Daybreak.

Qubec Solidaire also feels threatened by changes

Quebec's chief electoral officer, the Directeur gnral des lections du Qubec (DGEQ),justified the revisions by arguing that Montreal has too many seats relativeto its population, which is why one riding on the island needs to go.

WestmountSaint-Louis was targeted for elimination because of a low number of votersand slow population growth, a spokesperson for the DGEQsaid.

QubecSolidaire riding could go too

The redrawing of the electoral map also puts the riding ofQubecSolidaire'sManonMasson the chopping block.

The DGEQ has proposed merging a large chunk of her riding, Sainte-MarieSaint-Jacques,with downtown Montreal.

QubecSolidaire's Amir Khadirsaid the change would be devastating for the small party, noting the current electoral system already disadvantages smaller parties.

"Imagine that, that you're merging the [public housing project] Jeanne-Mance HLM, one of the poorest sectors of downtown Montreal, with high-level luxury condos on Drummond Street. That's what they've done," Khadir said.

He called the DGEQ's latest proposal"gerrymandering" to benefit the governing Liberals. The DGEQ is an independent institution that reports to the National Assembly.

Quebec's Electoral Representation Commission, a three-member panel presided by the chief electoral office, reviews the electoral map every two elections to take into account demographic changes.

Along with the proposals for Montreal, itproposed eliminating one riding in the Mauricie region (currently held by the Liberals)and adding one each to theLaurentides-Lanaudire region, where the population is on the increase.

Groups criticize lack of consultation

The chief electoral officer submitted the first version of changes in March 2015 and held consultations across the province.

In September 2016, MNAsdebated the proposal and questionedthe chief electoral officer, Pierre Reid. He submitted a second version of the changes last week.

According to the timeline set out in the Elections Act, MNAs will have five hours to debate the new version, starting Tuesday.

Once the debate is over, Reid has 10 days to finalize the new electoral map. There is no vote as his decision is binding.

Chambers said his group feels blindsided by the second version as "the original plan made no reference" to eliminating WestmountSaint-Louis.

"There was no consultation," he said.

DemocraticReformMinisterRitadeSantis said the concerns raised by Chambers about the lack of consultation were "valid." DeSantis indicated she would be open to revisiting the law.

"Ibelieve it may be a concern that we should discuss after this process," she said.